r/UKmonarchs • u/Bevie_Ruby Guildford Dudley • Jun 19 '25

On this day 848 years ago, Margaret of France gave birth to Henry the Young King's only child William, who would die 3 days later.

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14

u/RareLeadership369 Jun 19 '25

Aww that’s extremely tragic

7

u/Bevie_Ruby Guildford Dudley Jun 19 '25

It is. Imagine if William Plantagenet's line continued. King William III in the 13th Century would have been crazy.

7

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '25

Somehow the name William did not get along well with their family.

Henry the Young King’s older brother, also named William, died young as well. He’s the only children of Eleanor of Aquitaine to die young.

6

u/statleader13 Jun 20 '25

And of course the succession crisis that led to Henry II taking the throne after the war between his mother Empress Matilda and her cousin King Stephen was precipitated by Matilda's brother William Adelin dying in his teens.

Robert Curthose's only legitimate son William Clito died before his father as well.

Also Edward III had 7 or 8 sons (one may have died before being named according to some sources). Of the 7 named sons, 5 lived to adulthood-the two that died in infancy were both named William.

3

u/transemacabre Edward II Jun 20 '25

Henry II's youngest brother was another William who died in early adulthood. That was part of Henry II's quarrel with Thomas Becket; William had wished to marry Isabel de Warenne and Becket refused to support the needed dispensation. When William died shortly afterward, Henry II blamed Becket for his brother's broken heart.